I have a 2005 xlt 4x4 5spd with stock suspension. I am starting to save and research for a solid axle swap but I am looking for some pics of trucks with rock sliders (like beards) and skid plate protection. I am hoping some of the guys on here have some form of rock sliders on a stock ranger or with cranked torsion bars. I would prefer to see trucks WITHOUT body lifts. I would also like to see some pics of your under carriage protection. Thanks a lot

Tricky is good! I'm not worried about having to do some work to make them fit as I have the fab and mechanical skills to do it (I'm a truck and coach mechanic) . I am more concerned with how it's going to look on a stock height truck. I wish I had a tubing bender so I could just make my own

no pics of the sliders, but people have done beard's sliders on a stock height truck, just takes a lot of work, and is a pain in the ***, if you want to lift it afterwards because your sliders will be 3" below where you would think they should be...

as for skid plates, here is the front one, which comes stock on the level II's, i also have one underneath my TC, and one under my gastank, all fairly heavy gauge steel...

this one is bent up, as it was about 3 hours after a bad *** accident i was in, but it has since been replaced, i'm sure more will post up with better pics of the skidplates

Tom Barcia made John Griggs and I a set a loooong time ago, about the first sliders ever made for Rangers.

I still have the drivers side one, but it's on the wreck. I think there are still pics of my old truck on my cardomain site, just look up Buckgnarly. There may also be a pic on my for sale post on here.

im not sure where anyone has said my sliders are hard to install on a non body lifted truck.

Ya I can't find anything where guys are saying they had a hard time mounting them on stock height trucks. Even if I need to do a smaller body lift I'm ok with that. And as I said above I do want to lift with a solid axle

I don't have a body lift and I have frame mounted rock sliders. I had them at stock height and still have them now with my SFA swap. I had a thread, but with the changes on R-F over the last few years my thread is lost. .120 wall DOM. Custom made. I've used them a few times and if I didn't have them I'd have body damage for sure! They take a beating and still look good. Rattle can makes them look good again.

Here are some pictures from about 2 years ago.

I've hit them pretty hard once since my SAS and they keep saving my sheetmetal. It is always going through a wash with some boulders and not expecting it. Those ones hurt.

i have trailgear ones and no body lift. fit alright, just need to reweld them cuz they were welded on kinda crappy, other than that i should add some gussets too but they just were kinda a pain to fit.

I don't have a body lift and I have frame mounted rock sliders. I had them at stock height and still have them now with my SFA swap. I had a thread, but with the changes on R-F over the last few years my thread is lost. .120 wall DOM. Custom made. I've used them a few times and if I didn't have them I'd have body damage for sure! They take a beating and still look good. Rattle can makes them look good again.

Well then you obviously noticed they are also for a Tacoma and not a ranger. They come with mounting plates to weld to the chassis but it's not hard to drill a few holes and put bolts through the frame. I am asking how these guys mounted them to see if anyone has done it without welding. This would mean I can do it in my garage without a welder

Only thing that worries me is frame integrity after drilling holes. I would probably weld a plate into the back side if the frame if I can get in there. And probably drill and tap through the frame and that plate so I don't have to feed a nut on the back. I would like to try and keep the sliders removable

Ok. I am a truck and coach mechanic. Reason I am asking about welding the plate to the frame and drilling through is I see heavy truck frames start to crack around holes that have been drilled into the frame. I know a ranger isn't exactly under the same types of loads but offroading will cause that frame to bend and twist in all sorts of ways. I am afraid of my frame cracking.